Problems for the Guardians
by J-wire
Summary: This week is the worst... All five Guardians and the Consulate have fallen victim to dangerous things. Will they recover and how will they survive? Why hasn't any of this affected their Partners?
1. Chapter 1

This wasn't good. How she'd got into the fight in the first place, she'd no idea. But it had turned bad…

'Had enough yet?' Kabuto asked, standing above her. She looked up at him and snarled.

'No. You'll have to do more than that to get to me,' she growled, jumping to her feet.

Kabuto's hands glowed blue and Jynx braced herself. She knew about the chakra scalpel and its effects. She readied herself by pulsing her chakra over her muscles.

'Shadow Clone Jutsu!' someone yelled from high in a nearby tree, catching Jynx off guard.

'No, Naruto!' she yelled. But it was too late. Kabuto had took his chance and cut the muscles to Jynx's limbs. She dropped to the forest floor like a ragdoll and didn't move.

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'You do know what'll happen if you do that?' Jade smirked. She was in a bad situation already. Kazuku had her up against a wall with some strange contraption next to her head. After summing up the situation and analysing the strange cylindrical object with her Cyphergan, Jade resorted to using the threat of her ex-sensei killing Kazuku.

'I wouldn't count on that. I have four hearts and Hidan has no patience,' he chuckled in reply, pressing a button on the instrument. Jade fell to the floor, her head splitting with pain.

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'Why is it that people like you are such pains in the arse?' Juni asked sarcastically. She was surrounded by clones of Suigetsu and they were all making hand-signs for a jutsu she'd never seen before.

'Be quiet and sleep,' he said. Each clone forced their hands out and ten bolts of chakra engulfed Juni. When the smoke cleared, Suigetsu had vanished and Juni appeared to be sound asleep.

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'I won't let you!' Naraai yelled.

'Heh. You don't have much choice, _onee-chan_. If you want to stay alive, you'll let me through.' The boy snarled in reply, his blue and purple Crystalline eyes gleaming with malice. Naraai didn't budge.

'I didn't want to resort to this but… if this is what it takes…' flashing hand signs, Geraai got behind Naraai and placed a hand on the base of her spine forcefully. As she fell, everything turned to black and she landed with a thud on the hard earth.

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She'd done it again. Seriously, fighting your own self hurts. However, at least she was in her own apartment. However, it was starting to fall apart… on top of her. Worst of all she had no one that could possibly save her… she had no proper partner of her own.

As the last piece of the roof fell, Beersha's life flashed before her eyes. The last thing she saw was the shadow of a person coming through the door.

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'Oh God… What's happened to her?' Shikamaru felt for a pulse on Jynx's neck. Thank God, he thought, she's still alive. He looked around, it seemed that Naruto had gone after Kabuto or gone to complete the mission. Lifting Jynx onto his shoulder, Shikamaru thought about how light she was compared to himself.

'Ungh…' Jynx groaned. Shikamaru had noted when he'd searched for her pulse that her vocal chords had been snapped.

'So then, it must've been the chakra scalpel technique… Nasty bastard…' Shikamaru was rather concerned that he couldn't feel the pain that Jynx must be feeling.

When he got back home, Shikamaru went straight upstairs and lay Jynx down on his bed. He performed a jutsu and placed a gentle hand on Jynx's heart. As her eyes slowly closed, Shikamaru vowed to find and kill the bastard that had done this to the person he loved like his own sister.

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'I wonder where she… Jade!' seeing the limp figure sprawled in the deserted alleyway, Genma rushed over to Jade, 'Jade-hime, are you alright? Are you hurt?'

'Damned idiot… he had a fucking parasite in that thing… How was I to know..?' Jade muttered weakly in reply.

'Don't worry… You're safe with me. I'll take you back to my apartment and we'll see what we can do,' Genma picked up the contorted figure of his Partner and flashed three one-handed hand signs. In a puff of smoke he was back at his apartment.

'I don't care what abilities they have or even if they're indestructible, I'm gonna find who did this to you Jade-hime and I'm going to make them pay for it,' Genma vowed, placing the woman he loved onto his bed.

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'All this dust… I can't see a thing…' Kisame muttered. He was walking back to his home and, as he entered the cloud of dust, he tripped over something. He felt a sharp pain in his back and realised that what he'd tripped over was actually Juni.

'Asleep in a place like this? Hold on, this is induced sleep… Suigetsu,' Kisame's voice turned from a joke to a snarl as he realised that only the white-haired missing-nin Suigetsu could've induced such a sleep.

Flashing some hand signs, Kisame created a water dragon. This dragon picked Juni up and raced ahead to Kisame's home.

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'Bastard! How could you do this to her?' Temari was quite obviously enraged at Geraai, 'She's your _sister_. How could you be so cruel?'

'Heh. Cruel is what I've always been. It's part of the job description,' Geraai snarled.

'I'll KILL you!' Temari yelled.

'Give it your best shot!' Geraai laughed.

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'My my, she seems to have got herself a bit… damaged…' Iruka sighed. It seemed that everything had gone wrong this week.

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A/N: This is my first chapter… To me it's a bit repetitive… Please tell me what you think. Oh, the action's coming soon!


	2. Chapter 2

Jynx opened her eyes to find Shikamaru standing over her with a wet cloth.

'For someone who's got all their muscles snapped, you sweat a lot in your sleep,' he smiled.

'Damn… That Naruto…' Jynx replied wearily. Shikamaru's eyes widened but he smiled even more.

'I see that you can talk again. She did her work quickly.'

Jynx's Byakugan activated and she looked around the room.

'Where am I..? Oh no! But that means that…' she gasped.

'Don't worry. Neither of my parents know that you're here,' Shikamaru comforted Jynx.

'But I've also got to see Kakashi-sensei and 'Ruka-anii'll be wondering where I am… And the mission…'

'Don't worry yourself, Jay-onee. Kakashi-sensei can come here, Iruka already knows that you're here, he visited yesterday and the mission was completed successfully.'

'How long'll it be until I'm back to normal?' Jynx looked concerned.

'Well, as soon as I can figure out how, you can start going on missions again. Maybe with Kagemane or Shadow Puppetry… Maybe that Kankuro could teach me some stuff…' Shikamaru appeared to be talking to himself but Jynx still listened intently, 'It could be days or weeks, maybe never. But I'll look after you until you're better. Promise.'

* * *

'What is he doing up there?' Yoshino asked her husband impatiently, 'SHIKAMARU! Get your ass down here RIGHT NOW!'

'Please, Yoshino… Leave him be. He'll come down when he wants to…' Shikaku replied, 'It makes me wonder though… why did Iruka-sensei visit yesterday?'

'Apparently to give Shikamaru some extra-credit work… Don't look at me like that!' Yoshino was quickly losing her temper with her husband.

At that exact second, Shikamaru walked into the kitchen and straight to the fridge.

'What do you think you're doing, young man?' Yoshino asked, or more shouted at, Shikamaru.

'I have some extra-credit work to do so I'm going to eat upstairs,' Shikamaru replied calmly, taking quite a few things from the fridge and returning upstairs.

'Something tells me that there's something he doesn't want us to know about…' Shikaku muttered.

* * *

'Well, that was close…' Shikamaru muttered, placing the food down on a tray.

'Your mum shouts REALLY loud… Besides, you're going to eat all of that by yourself?' Jynx wondered.

'Nope. At least half of it's for you,' smiling, Shikamaru placed a hand behind Jynx's back and gently lifted her until she was sitting upright. He then used his Shadow Endgame Technique to collect cushions and pillows from around the room to prop the red-head up.

'Okay, I guess that's fine. All my involuntary muscles still work. But that means that… why do you bother? Isn't this a drag for you?' Jynx changed her mind-walk into a direct question.

'Nope. When you're around, Jynx, not much _is_ a hassle. It's all I can do to help. Besides, when we're done, we can watch the clouds,' Shikamaru smiled, taking off his flak jacket, 'That thing's great for ninja stuff, but rubbish when you're taking a day off.'

'You've got a day off?' Jynx asked in reply.

'Not really, but needs must, ey?'

'Tsunade-sama's gonna kill you…'

* * *

A knock at the door made Yoshino look up from her chopping board. She answered it to find two boys standing outside. One was dressed completely in black and had purple paint on his face, the other had a gourd on his back and the Kazekage hat on his head.

'We're here to see Shikamaru,' Gaara said simply, 'May we come in?'

'Certainly, Kazekage-sama,' Yoshino replied before turning around and yelling, 'SHIKAMARU! You've got visitors!'

Shikamaru ran downstairs.

'Ironic, I was just thinking about you guys… where's man-strength woman?' he asked, referring to Temari as the new nickname he'd thought up for her.

'If you're meaning Temari, she's trying to reverse a complicated chakra sealing jutsu,' Kankuro replied.

'Okay then. Come on up to my room,' Shikamaru started walking up the stairs, followed by the two guests. Once they arrived in Shikamaru's room, Gaara's eyes widened. Kankuro remained rather unresponsive, however.

'What's happened to you?' Gaara asked, sitting down on the bed beside Jynx. He took off his hat and placed it on the desk opposite the bed.

'Someone used a chakra scalpel to destroy almost all of her voluntary muscles. Which is part of the reason why I was thinking of you guys. Kankuro, is it possible that you could teach me the art of puppetry?' Shikamaru first replied to Gaara's anxious question and then asked Kankuro his own question.

'Well, it's a tall order… but you seem determined so I'll take you up on it. I'll warn you now, it's a hard technique to master,' Kankuro replied, smiling.

'Well, for once I have motivation so… when will we start?'

Kankuro looked around, summing up the size of the room.

'Right now, if you want.'

* * *

A/N: This chapter's just the start of the action. Will Shikaku or Yoshino find out about Jynx? Will Shikamaru be able to master the Shadow Puppetry? Will Jynx ever recover? Find out next time!


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